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Thursday, February 9, 2012

make your own valentines

It should come to no surprise that I'm pretty cheap thrifty. I think I just briefly saw an image of sewn hearts in my Martha Stewart Daily craft email or somewhere, and I decided to make my own. And you can as well.Supplies:Card stockWonder Under (optional)Scissorspencilrulerfabric scrapssewing machine/thread or needle and threada heart shape/templateiron/ironing boardpostcard template (or you can make your own from card stock)First you will find a heart shape that you like, or you could even draw your own. I just google imaged 'heart outline' and found one I liked. Then you'll trace the heart onto the smooth side of your Wonder Under (or fabric adhesive). Make as many hearts as Valentines you'll need

Then you'll find just the right amount of fabric scraps and iron the wonder under heart outline onto the fabric scrap. Iron rough side down {otherwise you'll end up with glue on your iron} - I've done that before. You don't want to do it.

I already had a postcard from a previous project, but you can create your own postcard format on a sheet of card stock paper. I used a photo to trace just the right size for my postcard.

After all of your hearts have been ironed, cut out the hearts. Slightly tear the wonder under - and peel off a layer. The rough side should be left onto the fabric scrap.

I then briefly whipped my iron over each card stock - postcard - to iron the heart onto the paper. This will make sewing the heart a lot easier. If you don't have wonder under, you could always glue the fabric to a card. Just be sure that your glue is dry before you start sewing {otherwise you're going to end up with sticky needles. No. Thank. You.}

Once all of your hearts have been glued to your postcards, you're ready to sew the edges. I just used a regular zig-zag stitch, you can use a straight line, or get fancy if your machine has those fancy stitches.

I pulled the threads through to the back and tied my knots {like my momma taught me}. Then I used my absolute favorite craft clue - Elmers - No Wrinkle - Dual Tip Glue Pen to glue my cards {postcards} together. I placed books on them to ensure that they dry without any wrinkles {even though it's a no-wrinkle glue}. I guess that's my Type A coming through.

And voila - cheap, personal valentines. I'm still going to write happy valentine's day on the front, and then write a personal message on the back, stick a stamp on it, and send it to my Valentines.